The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-31
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
COME THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE
INTO THE ARK.

INTO THE ARK.
1t is Not Enough to Teach Your Children
Good Manners, Educate Them and Pro-
vide Literally for Them-You Are Re
sponsible for Their Souls Welfare.
DEs MONIES, Ia, March 27-The Rev. 7.
De Witt Talmage, d. D., preached III this city
this morning to vast congregation. His
text was Genesis vii, !: "Come thou and all
thy house into the ark" The eloquent
preacher said:
We do not need the Bible to prove the del
uge. The geologist's hammer announces it.
Sea shells and marine formations on the top
OF some of the highest mountains of the earth
prove that at some time the waters washed
over the top of the Alps and the Andes. In
what way the catastrophe came we know not.
Whether by the stroke of a comet, or by
flashes of lightning changing the air into
water, or by a stroke of the hand of God, like
the stroke of the ak between the horns of tine
OK, the earth staggered. To meet the catas-
trophe God ordered a great Ship built. 1t
was to be without PROV, for it was to sail to
40 shore. 1t was TO be without helm, for no
human hand should guide it. 1t was q vast
structure, probably as large as two or three
Gunar1 steamers. II was the Great Eastern
OF olden time.
The ship is DONE The door is open. The
lizards crawl in. The cattle walk in The
gr;lsshoppers hop in. The birds fly in. The
Invitation goes forth to Noah: "Come thou
and all thy house into tho ark" Just
one human family embark on the strange
voyage, and I hear the door slam shut. a
great storm sweeps along the hills and bends
tlan
gale. There is q moan i'll the wind like unto
the moan Of dying world. The blackness
OF tho heavens is shattered by the flare of the
Iightnings that look down into the waters and
throw q ghastliness Oh the face of the mount
aims. How strange it looksi How suffocat-
ing the air seemsl The big drops of rain
p'ash upon the upturned faces Of those who
are Watching the tempest. Crash go the
rocks in convu.sion. Booml go the burst
ing heavens The inhabitants of the earth,
instead of fleeing to house top and mountain
top, as men have fancied, sit down III dumb,
ygnito horror TO die. For when God grinds
mountains to pieces and lets the ocean slip its
cable, there is no place for men to fly to. See
tho ark pitch and tumble III the surf, while
from its windows the passengers look out
upon the sbipwreck of race and the car
cases of a dead world. Woe to the mountains
Woe to the sea!
am no alarInist. When on Sept. 20, after
the wind has for three days been blowing
from the northeast, you prophesy that the
equnoctial storm is coming you simply state
a fact not to be disputed Neither am l an
ala1mist when ] say that a storm is coming,
compared with which Noah's deluge was but
an April shower; and that it is the wisest and
safest for you and for me 10 get safely
housed for eternity. The invitation that
went forth to Noah sounds in our ears:
@Come thou and all thy house into the ark. ."
Wen, how did Noah and his family come
into the ark? Did they climb in at the win
dow or come down the roof! No; they went
through the door. Ana just SO, if we get
into the ark of Gods mercy, it will be through
Christ the door. The entrance to the ark of
old must have been very large entrance.
We know that it was, from the fact that there
were monster animals in the earlier ages;
AMI, in order to get them into the ark two
and two, according to the Bible statement,
the door must have been very wide and very
high. So TIE door into the mercy of God i:
a large door. We so in, not two by two, but
by hundreds, and by thousands, and by mil
lions. Yea, all the nations of the earth may
80 in ten millions abreast
The door of the ancient ark was in the side
pierced side, the wide open side, the heart side
that we enter. Ahal the Roman soldier
fhlusting his spear into the Saviour's side
expected only to let the blood out, but ht
opened the way to let all the world in. oh
what a broad gospel to preachl Ii a man i
about to give an entertainment, he issues one
or two hundred invitations, carefully put III
and directed to the particular persons whom
10 wishes to entertain. But God our Father
makes banquet, and goes out to the from
door of heaven, and stretches out his hand
over land and sea, and, with n voice thatpen
etrates the iiindoo jungle, and the Greenland
leo castle, and Brazilian grove, and Engllsl
factory, and American home, cries out
~COme, for all things are now ready" 1t Is
wide door! The old cross has been taLel
apart, and its two pieces are stood mp for tn
door posts, SO far apart that all the world CD
come in Kings scatter treasures on day
of great rejoicing. So Christ, cur king
comes and scatters the jewels o
Heaven. Rowland Hiu said that he hope
10 got into Heaven through the creviCes o
TIE door, But lie was not obliged thus TO G
IL. After having preached the Gospel i
Surrey chapel, going up toward Heaven, th
catuSeepcr cried: Lift up your heads, y
everlasting gates, and let this man come in.
Tho dying thief went in. Richard BaXtc
and Robert Newton went in. Europe, Asis
Africa. North and South America may yc
fyo through this wide door without crowdins
Ho. every onel-all conditions, all ranks, a
reople. Luther said that this truth wa
worth carrying on ones knees from Rome
Jerusalem; but | think it worth carrying q
around the globe, and all around the heavens
that "God 50 loved the world that He gav
Ills only begotten Son, that whosoeYer b'
l.. l,,4 hot
everlasting life" Whosoever will, let hiI
come through the large door. Archimedt
wanted a fucrIm on which to place h
lever, and then he said that he could moy
tn, world Calvary is the fulcrum and th
cross of Christ is the lever; and by tn;
rower all nations shall yet be lifted.
Further, it is door that swings both way
do uot know whether the door of the 0nciel
o,l, was lifted or rolled on hinges; but til
door of C'h1'ist open both ways. 1t swings OF
toward all our woes; it swings in toward Il
yaut,lrss of heaven II swings in to let us il
il swings out to let our ministering ones con
out An are one in Cbrist-Christians {
earth and saints in heaven.
one army of the living God,
At his command we bow;
Part of the host have crossed the flood,
And part are crossing now.
Swing in. O blessed door! mCl all Il
earth shall go in and live. Swing out UNI
all the heavens come forth to celebrate t
victory.
But, further, it IS door with fastening
The Bible saws of Noah: ''The lord shut hi
in" \ vessel without bulwarks or doc
would not he n safe vessel to so i'll. Win
Noah and his family heard the fastening
the door of the ark they were very gia
Without those doors were fastened the fiji
heavy surge of the sea would have whelm
them; and they might as well have perish
outside the ark as inside the ark. The 10
shut him i'm Oh, the perfect safety of
ark The surf of the sea and the lghtnin
Of the sky may be twisted into a garland
snow and fire-deep to deep, storm to stor
s-xszE,zzrc.s eAz<ssass-zl.